Zootopia 'Day to Day, Time to Time'
by Babybreathrabbit
Summary: Just the daily life and adventures of Nick & Judy, as they go about their jobs and uncover not just crimes, but also their mutual and growing feelings for one another.
1. A grouchy morning

A/N: Hello, I'm completely new here! (Writing wise) I have read a lot of fanfics here though, and have been greatly inspired by Zootopia movie and Zootopia fanfic writers too, and for the first time, decided to try writing a fanfic for a Disney animation. I struggled a lot on whether I should write this but I had a lot of fun reading other writers' works, and hope I can contribute in some small little way too.

Please pardon me for any error (you can kindly let me know too, I try my best but I'm only human), I hope someone will enjoy reading this! It's also my first time writing something crime/mystery related and I really am not sure how I will fare but well, you never try, you never know! Just trying everything I am legally allowed to here! :) As for the title, I'm trying to convey a sense of 'day to day' living, but not everything will be of daily basis, so the 'time to time' part too. Lastly, reviews will be extremely appreciated by this little bunny here, read away! :D

* * *

The furry paw tucked the handgun into the holstery as the animal holding it couldn't hide the bright smile on it's face, as it looked at the reflection in the mirror in front of him, as he patted the dust off his uniform.

Nick Wilde, would never have believed in a million years, that he would become a policeman, and a happy one at that. Life and it's surprises, are truly neverending.. he never expected to work alongside a rabbit, to become best friend with a prey, or to walk right in the straight path of the law.

His mother would have been so proud of him, he thought to himself, as he looked at the reflection of the picture frame, through the mirror, a forlorn smile hanging on his lips. The ring of his phone alarm aroused him from his thoughts, signalling for him to make his move.

The fox let out a light whistle, and even had a slight bounce in his step as he walked confidently into the ZPD, sending Clawhauser a cheerful greeting as he walked past the cheetah, munching on a chocolate donut, with rainbow sprinkles. That resulted in half his face being smeared with chocolates - Clawhauser wasn't exactly the neatest eater around. Despite his messy eating habits, he was not a sloppy officer and as one, who had honed his observation skills for years, noticed the fox was being unusually cheerful.

Either he had something to be really happy about or somebunny's infectious optimism was rubbing off him. Thinking of the devil, in she walked; or rather, trudged her way in. Her mannerism puzzling Clawhauser, the unusual lively bunny looked exactly as if she was having a classic Monday blues, something she never once had. Being a police himself after all, his instinct and curiosity kicked in, prompting him to find out more.

"Hopps!" Clawhauser called out to grab her attention as she was walking towards the direction of the stairs, and he could swear she was shooting daggers out of her eyes. Who knew such round - and cute (a word he knew better than to utter in her presence again)- eyes could be capable of that?

"What" her usual excitement was completely drained from her voice, leaving the tone of her question monotonous.

"Er.. Is something the matter?" Not wanting to offend his colleague, he hesitated and could only hope he appeared sensitive in his approach, as he looked on ar the rabbit, noticing puffy bags at the bottom of both her eyes.

"Why don't you try interogating a criminal for 24 hours?", came the grouchy-sounding reply from the usually friendly rabbit.

"24 hours?! Then shouldn't you be heading home for some rest now?"

The rabbit squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head vigorously, mustering whatever energy she had left, she squinted her eyes, a look of determination shining through, "No! Duty call, rest can wait", with that, she walked with her back more upright than ever, up the flight of stairs, to receive her assigned duties.

Judy gave another death glare as she caught sight of her partner at their seat as she stepped into the room. Nick gulped in nervousness, wondering if it was about what happened the day before.

"Hmf, some trusty partner, falling asleep in the car and creating sweet dreams, while leaving me alone to deal with everything", she grumbled as she used her remaining energy to climb onto their shared chair, and this time, intentionally leaving a wide space between both of them.

"Oh, come on, Carrots, it was just Flash, surely it was enough for you to interrogate him alone,", Nick protested as he nudged her, and attempted to slide closer to his partner, who retaliated by poking him in the ribs with the back of her arm, resulting in an "ouch", not loud enough for everyone to hear but loud enough to earn several 'shh's.

"Ya, right, just Flash. Nick, precisely because it is Flash! You knew how long it takes to get a statement out of him! And how boring it is! What makes it even worse, being on the road! Whenever loud vehicles whizz by, I had to retake his statements again! 24 hours, it took nearly 30 hours to find out everything I needed to!"

"But, you were already gone when I got up?", Nick titled his head, puzzled at the amount of time she took.

"Did you not notice your environment, Officer Wilde?", a hint of sarcasm in her tired voice.

The head officer was starting to assign roles to some officers at this point in time, and the two animals quietened down, ready to respond if they were called upon.

"The police station? ", Nick answered Judy a while later, with a softer vokune now, as a look of realization crossed his eyes, "Oh, you brought him away from the traffic for further interrogations. I thought you went home! ", he said and smacked his face with one of his paws.

"And leave you in the vehicle? Aren't you a smart one, har har", Judy retorted, mocking him.

Nick winced, he would have retaliated in normal circumstances, "Sorry, my mistake, this time. Judy, how about you rest today, I can go solo."

The bunny shook her head firmly, "No, I'm not like somebody, who would leave his partner, without backup on duty", and she turned and scrunched her nose at him, trying to express her displeasure.

Somehow, Nick found them more cute, than annoyed though, as his eyes widened little in wonder, like a little boy looking at something that caught his attention.

Judy's attention was already turned back to the chief, too tired to notice anything else that she did not have her full attention on. She was listening in to the other cases, but mainly waiting for their assigned duties. Secretly, she hoped it will not be a task that was too physically exhausting yet she would prefer not to have work that werw too mundane, or routine too. She liked her work meaningful, but challenging but found herself at a dilemma here, considering her physical state. Her body was practically crying out for rest. Her unusually high energy had managed to sustain her the past 24 hours, but she was not that sure how many more hours of vigilance it could endure.

Thankfully, the chief, who seemed to be aware of Judy's tiredness due to her non-stop work decided to assign them a relatively simple duty of patrolling around Meadowtown (*), an area known to be peaceful.

Judy heaved a sigh of relief, her heart might have yearned for something more exciting, but she was glad for the quiet respite too.

The pair was quiet as Nick drove the vehicle to their destination, the bunny having no energy to initiate a conversation and the fox, wanting to give his partner time to rest.

As agreed on, Judy, the one in the passenger seat, kept a lookout for the pedestrians near her side of the vehicle, watching for anything suspicious. Her eyelids were slowly drooping, to the gentle rocking gentle of the vehicle and she slapped her cheeks with her paw several times to wake herself up.

"Carrots, you ok?"

"Help." "Falling Asleep", the lack of sleep was certainly taking her toll on her mental capabilities.

Nick panicked a little, wondering what to do, though the thought of letting his partner just sleep did cross his mind; he decided against it for a few reasons. It was in broad daylight and citizens will probably be looking at them as they drove by and his partner, with her strong sense of duty, would probably never forgive him for that.

"Carrots! Wait here!", he parked his vehicle by the curb and dashed into a store, only to reappear a few minutes later, with a few bottles of cold drinks, which he thrusted at the side of the face of his partner, who woke up with a jolt, from the sudden coldness.

"Energy drink and a cold shock, best way to stay awake!"

She received it, a slight smile on her face as she sipped the drink through the straw, her partner could be thoughtful when he wanted.

"So.. Carrots, how was the.. Err, interrogations, anything noteworthy? ", Nick decided a conversation might be a good way to stay awake too, seeing as his partner was really determined not to take a break.

Nick noticed as a frown appeared on his partner's face, but secretly heaved a sigh of relief when he rralized it was not directed at him, "He mentioned a mechanic, I suspect his car might have been tampered with, but why", she paused, and turned to look at Nick, "Do you know if Flash has always been a fast driver? I find it hard to believe ...well, because of their speed."

"Well, what do you know, we have a sheep who tried to murder animals, a rabbit who is strong, and a kind fox over here", he smirked, and gestured at himself, "why can't a sloth be fast?"

Judy rolled her eyes in response, "So, has he always been a fast driver then?"

Nick shrugged, earning another eye roll from his partner.

"But, I do know, how we can find out", he smirked at Judy, as he propped his head up, supported by one of his elbow, which was now resting on the car's dashboard.

End of Chapter 1

* * *

*based off Meadowlands, which did not appear in the movie.


	2. Hidden Secret

A/N: Thanks for all the support and pointing out my mistakes! I totally didn't notice that 'people' part, will correct it after publishing this! I tried to lighten my usage of commas too, hope it is at least a little better now *sheepish grin*. By the way, sorry if I sounded misleading - I'm new on this website but this isn't my first fic. I've written another 2 chaptered fics and 3 one-shots on an Asian fanfic website. (Of a different genre) The environment there is very different though, because even online, I find that a lot of us Asians are still not that outspoken plus most of our first language is not English so I have not received pointers for my writing flaws.

Even though my mistakes are pointed out here, I'm glad to get a chance to learn from them and improve, thank you for helping!

Thanks for commenting velestro1 , stillslightlyfrozen , thejoker122 , theoneforever, someone (Decided to do a thanks section for comments to acknowledge that I've read your comments plus comments tend to be lesser than 'follows' and 'faves', and made with more effort, so well, only doing it for the comments, for now) I appreciate all the follows and favs too, though, really thanks everyone!

Btw, for this chapter, it's my first/second time attempting action scenes (I wrote another one at around the same time for my other Zootopia fic), I've watched some boxing matches and a lot of kungfu scenes and I really hope my words can smoothly convey what I imagined for the scene. Enough of my ramblings, hope you enjoy reading this chapter!

* * *

Judy had both eyes locked on her opponent as she readied herself, getting into a half squat posture before she sent a flying kick his way.

Unfortunately for her, her opponent was faster on his feet and he dodged in the opposite direction, sliding forward to the other side of the boxing ring.

Not one to be beaten that easily, she narrowed her eyes in determination as she changed her posture and charged forward again, ready to punch her opponent's right cheek, only to be caught by a sneak attack from him with a kick to her left shin. Instinctively, she bent to grab her left shin, growling softly in pain as she turned to glare at her opponent, who had both his hands raised and a smug look on his face.

Not wasting another second, she tried to throw a kick at him while attempting to grab him with her arms. Unable to avoid the kick he didn't see coming, his attention on her arms, he reacted by grabbing her arms and lifting her unto the air higher than he had expected, before throwing her down on the ground, as he was trained to do.

A loud thwack could be heard, as Judy took the chance to attack her surprised opponent, kicking him again with her stronger leg, and pulling heavily on one of his arms, reversing the two animals' position, as she now pinned him under her arms, locking eyes with him, with her own smug grin now.

Her opponent, the fox and her partner, returned her a grin of his own, "Guess, you're not the valedictorian for nothing"

Judy was about to respond with a laugh but she started noticing how close they both were, snout almost touching, and as if in a trance, stared right into the pair of emerald looking right back at her, both of them were lost in the depth of other's eyes before Nick noticed their situation, and faked a cough to break the awkwardness.

The two hurriedly broke their awkward position, and looked everywhere else except at each other.

"Umm, sorry for the high throw there, I almost forgot how light you are.. did it hurt?" the fox spoke up, to break both the silence and awkwardness.

Judy nudged her partner in the rib hard as Nick turned to stare at her with a "What-was-that-for" look.

A sly grin crept up her face as she replied, "Now, did that hurt?"

"Hey, sly rabbit, revenge not allowed in the ring, remember? "

The pair had taken to doing weekly practices together, not just because they were assigned partners but also because out of all the animals in the force, they were most compatible in size, style and fighting ability.

Especially since, many other larger animals had refused to spar with either of them, complaining that they were too small for them to see, escaped too quickly and were too good at slipping away from under the other bigger animals.

Not that the pair had anything to complain about, if anything, they love the fact they could focus on exchanging blows and exchanging pointers with each other. Being together more often also gave them a better understanding of each other's strength and weaknesses. Not surprisingly, their differences in those tend to complement that of the other rather perfectly.

Nick was stronger with dodging and escaping, while Judy was better with her kicks and counterattacks. Even with how perfectly they seem to match in fighting practices though, they were bound to be moments where they accidentally injure the others and in order to maintain the harmony, they had agreed that whatever happens in the ring stay in it.

"Yes. I remember, whatever happens in the ring stays in it," Judy said, as she hopped off the ring and headed towards their towels and bottles.

As the pair dried off, and gargled down streams of water, Judy couldn't help but recall that quiet moment they had shared in the ring. She shrugged, trying to rid herself of her thoughts, silently reminding herself again that what happens in the ring stays there.

"What's wrong?", Nick asked, upon noticing the bunny's shrug. He had developed a keen eye for all the minute actions of his partner even before he had entered the force, when they had worked together on the NightHowlers case.

"Uh.. I was just thinking of the contact you mentioned, the day we were patrolling Meadowtown, ", she fibbed, not wanting to reveal her true thoughts.

"Contact?", his mind still on their practice itself, not realizing what she was talking about.

"You know, Flash's case?"

His eyes brightened in enlightenment, "Oh yes, Flash Flash, Hunger guard dash. Anddd...", he dragged his voice out a little longer, "uh..he contact; to find out more details, uh yes.."

His eyes darted away suspiciously away for a moment but turned back to meet her amethyst eyes, "How about you go home and rest for now, I'll get the details and get back to you tomorrow? "

The rabbit eyed hin curiously, catching on to his hesitation, "But why? Don't you need my help?"

The fox slinged a hand over his partner's shoulder, guiding them out of the practice room and towards the changing rooms, trying to come up with a quick excuse, "Well, you see, it has been a long day for both of us and right now, this is the easiest part of the investigation, it will be more than enough for one officer to handle it so why don't you just head home after washing up and have some rest?" , he offered the most sincere smile he could.

It wasn't a lie after all, he did hope she will have a good rest.

"Nick, you're acting real suspicious..", she had her eyes narrowed at him now.

"Who? Me? Suspicious? ", Nick held out both his paws, in a surrender stance, still holding a bottle in his left hand. "I'm innocent, officer!" Nick protested, in mocking high-pitched voice.

"Not amused, Nick", the bunny had her arms crossed in front of her now, her eyes staring down her partner.

"You're thinking too much, Carrots... Perhaps you've investigated too many cases, but really, you should learn to trust your partner more, eh... ", he paused as he placed a paw on the door they had arrived in front of , "I'm going into the changing room now, if you really can't trust me, how about following me in?", he teased with a half-lidded smug smile as he turned and walked into the room, waving as the door closed after him.

The bunny could only respond by sticking her tongue out at the door, in annoyance, slightly peeved at her partner's behavior. This was Judy Hopps, one of the most brilliant officer here and the officer who understood Nick the best, he was definitely not fooling her; she could tell right away when he was joking and when he was hiding something.

"Hey Hopps", a male colleague, a wolf, who just happened to walk by, eyed her and the door of the male changing room before Judy turned to him, her eyes widened at what her colleague was probably thinking.

"Uh.. I .. w..was just about to, I mean I was looking for the female changing room. Oh, yes, it's that way. ", she gestured towards her right, before looking back at him, "Sorry, bad sense of direction, " she laughed awkwardly as she slowly back away.

"Darn that Nick", she cursed under her breath as she stepped into the female changing room. "I'm _definitely_ going to find out what you are about to do."

* * *

A/N: Sorry, I'm long-winded... just wanted to say this version was my 3rd draft of this chapter and I hope you all don't mind a grouchy bunny. .. I realized she seems to be annoyed quite often in this fic, LOL. But, the other versions, I had a crying and sad Judy... I'd much rather prefer an annoyed but spunky one, what about everybody?


	3. Curiosity

A/N: Character's thoughts are italicized.

Sorry I took so long to update. Frankly, I couldn't come up with a chapter that satisfied me. I don't really like or expected this chapter to turn out this way, but it was still enjoyable writing this chapter, I hope it will still entertain! Although I haven't been able to think of a satisfying chapter here, I thought of the future development of this fic though, LOL.

Thanks for all the favourites, and follows!

And special thanks to 146291, Stephen, velestro for the reviews!

All you readers are my motivation to continue updating! :)

And in reply to 146291: No worries, I'm rarely offended but well, that's kind of a tricky question for me to answer, technically yes and no. I'd say Singlish is my first language, hahas. It's a Singapore slang; a mixture of a few languages (Mandarin Chinese, Chinese dialects, English, Malay). I'd say both English & Chinese can be considered my first language since I learnt both at the same time but majority of my education was completed in English-speaking and writing environment. And I read a lot which helps! P.s. what about you? :p)

Enough of my chatter, please enjoy:

* * *

To the passersby, it was an odd sight to look at but the little rabbit had things more important than to concern herself with the perception of the citizens of Zootopia.

So what if they've never seen a prey stalking a predator?

The world is changing now and anything can be possible in Zootopia, these animals just had to get used to it.

With her sight set on her "prey", she tiptoed after him, careful to keep a distance... Although it wasn't that much and it was obvious to anyone looking who exactly it was who she was stalking.

She darted her eyes around, as she noticed some young animals had stopped to stare at her.

"Are you stalking the bad guy, Miss Bunny Officer?", a curious little kitten asked, a little too loudly.

Darting her eyes back at her target, Judy shushed the little kitten before hastily sliding behind a nearby wall, to continue hiding herself as well as she could.

Unbeknownst to her, the target she was following had a smirk on his face as he turned to look at the flowers on his right and struck up a conversation with the shopkeeper who was selling them.

Judy heaved a sigh of relief at not losing her target and being found out.

The little kitten was still staring up at her with her big blue eyes awaiting her response.

Judy gave her a smile before immediately turning it into a frown, "Hey little kitty, where are your parents?"

The kitten blinked back in surprise, "Mummy?", her voice came out in a little quaver, "Mummy.."

 _Oh gosh, a lost kitten, at this timing, of all time!_

Being the good cop she was, she took the kitten's hand in hers and set off to find her mother.

Her previous target turned his head towards her direction as he noticed her walking away.

The Judy Hopps he knew wasn't one to give up halfway. He put down the flowers he was holding and followed after her, although not as secretly as she did. It was only natural for partners to help each other in time of need, after all.

His ears picked up the questions she had asked a few of the passerbys while he observed the little kitten she had by her side as he deduced what was going on. He looked up and scanned the area with his eyes as Judy continued questioning each passerby she encountered.

 _Elephant, rhino, mouse, giraffe, boar, bear, leopards..._

All types of animals roaming about on the street, but no cat.

He took a second look at the kitten, taking note of it's gray fur, similar to that of his partner but much lighter.

He scanned the place a second time, this time categorizing the animals by their fur colour.

 _Yellow, yellow, brown, white, black, dark gray, gray, light gray, very light gray!_

 _Mama cat!_

Now, all he had to do was direct them to each other, without letting Judy know. A smirk graced his face again, he feeling secretly proud of his own brilliant plan and it's simplicity. He dashed over to the mother cat, who seemed panicky, and after they started conversing, he pointed her towards Judy. The mother cat's face light up as she turned to thank Nick, who simply waved her off with a smile, as he headed back to the flower shop he was standing in front of previously.

Judy's eyes were practically beaming, to be able to unite the lost mother-and-daughter, "I am so glad you were able to spot us, we've been looking all over for you!"

"Oh no, a kind fox directed me here", the mother explained. "A kind fox?", Judy's eyes widened a little in surprise, a thought racing through her mind, "By any chance, is he wearing a Hawaiian shirt?"

"Yes!", it was mama cat's turn to widen her eyes, "With a purple tie! You know him?"

Judy's eyes narrowed, upon realization, "Well, he does sound like someone I know. Anyway, I've to run now," she looked down at the kitten, "Stick close with your mumny this time"

The little kitten nodded as they part ways as the kitten turned to her mum and said "I think it's the fox she was tailing, he must be a bad guy"

"No, not this fox, my dear, this one is a kind soul. Not all foxes are bad" the mother replied.

Judy smiled as she overheard their conversation; if only more animals thought like that. Her smile turned into a frown again as thought of her partner, who she noticed was still standing outside the flowershop.

It seemed even more suspicious that he had stayed in the same position for so long.

Was he taking her for a fool again?

As she was deep in thoughts, he suddenly took a bouquet and went in to pay before turning to walk away.

Judy resumed her stalking as Nick turned a corner into an alleyway, where the sound of guitar music could be heard.

She picked up speed, and turned into the same alleyway, careful to avoid being spotted, as she positioned herself strategically behind a few dustbins. Subconsciously, one of her ears turned up in excitement, trying to pick up whatever words that were being exchanged.

Unfortunately, the bins were too short to provide cover for her long ears, something she soon realized as she hastily reached up to flatten the upright ear down with a paw, which muffled whatever sounds she could potentially pick up. Left with no other choice, she stealthily peeked out the side of the bins, looking at Nick who was facing the other side, where the music was coming from some animal with very familiar looking ears.

Judy strained her neck out to take a clearer look.

 _Finnick!_

Standing on an upturned bin, a string guitar in hand, as his fingers strummed through it then stopped as he hopped off the bin and then walked in Judy's direction and continued his playing. Judy froze, before ducking back behind the bins.

The music continued playing for sometime, coming nearer towards her for some parts then futher, until it ceased.

Judy waited for awhile after it ended, before she took another peek, but Nick was no longer in sight. Not at the end of alley, the start or anywhere near.

The rabbit shot up from her hiding place, trying to register what had happened, had her partner purposely throw her off? But if he had known, why did he let her tail him all the way here?

 _And how did he even find out?_ She even had her ears out of sight!

The melody began playing again, breaking Judy out of her thoughts as she stared at Finnick, who was now on the bin again.

"Where did Nick went?", her tone confrontational.

The melody stopped, "How would I know? Am I his mother?", and he continued again with the melody as if nothing was happening.

"He was just here a minute ago, visiting you", she emphasised on her last word before continuing, "you should know"

"So what if I do?", the melody continued on this time, not taking a break.

"Then you have to tell me, or else"

"Or else what", his tone of voice monotonous, a stark contrast to the melody he was still playing.

"I'll charge you with obstruction of justice", she declared triumphantly.

He ignored her outburst, his face straight as he played his tune.

Her mind raced, trying to think of something good that could provoke the reaction she desired, but her mouth immediately shot off the first thing she could think of, "I'll charge you with illegal gathering! "

She did managed to provoked a reaction indeed but far from the one she wanted as a loud snort-chuckle escaped Finnick's mouth, his melody going awry now, with the erratic rhythm of his chuckles as the sounds reverbated in the empty alleyway.

"Illegal gathering? With who? You? HAHAHHA. You never fail to amuse, Miss hustler"

Judy gulped as she realized her folly, indeed they were the only two standing there. She could have smacked herself right there and then, for thinking of accusing him with such a preposterous charge.

After his laughing fit, Finnick went right back to playing his guitar, although now with a much more upbeat snd joyful tune,

"Hey! Finnick!"

The small fox stopped his melody again with a sharp screech, causing her to cover her ears Instinctively, as he glared at her, "Will you please be quiet? Trying to get creative here!" he shouted angrily as he stormed off the bin, dragging his guitar behind him.

"Finnick! Wait.. "

He turned around, looking ready to hit her with the guitar. "Will the two of you just get off my back?!", then he turned and looked at the sky, a sentimental look appearing on his face, "Can't a guy just have some quiet time playing music to the sky? "

Judy paused, surprised that Finnick had such a side to him, "Well..I.."

"I'm sorry but I only want to know just one thing and I'll be off"

Finnick turned to glare at her, "I do not know where your dear Nick is, my dear hustler. Now, can you please just let me off and stop disturbing me"

Judy's expression dropped, realizing everything she had done was futile.

Finnick sighed as he watched the bunny's expression, "Nick.."

"He's ...uh..safe... It's just.. Animals like us, we all have our own pasts, our own secrets, that we'll keep and guard." , Finnick started strumming his guitar again, a melancholic look on his face.

"Especially when we have someone we want to protect"

"Oh, how foolish we are. To keep secrets, run from love. Not risking our hearts, yet still getting hurt. For life has it's way, nothing's truly in vain" ~ Finnick started singing slowly as a stumped Judy stood there, processing his words.

Nick's past, and Nick's secrets, she couldn't help being curious about them all. Though, whether it was due to her inquisitive nature as an officer or her concerns as a friend or even more, she couldn't tell.

* * *

A/N: I've always enjoyed the parts where Nick and Judy tricked each other and I'd like to think they'd always continue to do that even after becoming allies. And sorry if Finnick's song lyrics doesn't flow well as a song, I came up with that on a spur of a moment, to try and fit the mood of Finnick's and Judy's exchange.


End file.
